Search

Its been a while and the blog saw very little action. Not that the pots weren’t full, but the Pitter Potter gardener, got busy and was down with an eye infection. However glad to be back and here are a few beauties which warmed my heart this week.

Radishes – The Radishes were the easiest to grow taking less than a month to harvest. I chose the pink beauties because they were pink and looked very appealing . Take a look at its pictorial journey. The saplings at 10 days.,The pinkies at 25 days:

And then the rocket leaves with their journey from pot to plate in 4 weeks.

And here was the produce:

And what followed was an yummylicious salad,with a bit of bite, mustard vinaigrette, tomatoes,feta cheese , rocket leaves and radish. It disappeared as soon it was placed on the table.

Its been a while folks, lets connect, let me know whats growing in your part of the world and your homes?

Caveman could not believe that I could fall in love with a plant called Birthworts and it did not help my case that it was listed in the top ten ugly plants by the Telegraph. The vindictive man sent me the link hoping to dissaude me from bringing her into the household. But ever since this , my maternal instincts refuse to calm down when brought to the fore. So yes, she came into our house inspite of the stiff opposition and has made our abode hers for the past six months.

Something about the woody flowers that gives the creeper an exotic look , and then as I always say,, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, So with no further ado, I present to you my Aristolachea gigantia plants .

All set to bloom ..

And theres the bloom

More of them here

And miffed by the opposition, I am determined to spread the beauty to the near and dear. Waiting to collect the seeds from the fruit that seems to grow:

The plant is an aggressive creeper flourishing on my balcony and does not receive more than 2 hours of sunlight. Standing out among all the other flowers , it sure knows to leave a lasting impression .

Ah, the beautiful journey of a seed to germinate, a bud to blossom, and the flower bearing fruit. And through the journey, the Pitter Potter Gardener is patiently watching nature unfold its miracles one petal at a time. The promise of things to come, seems much more beautiful than the arrival itself. Here are some of those joys that have filled my heart with the warmth of a sunny day. ( Much needed in the rainy Bengaluru weather)

A fuzzy baby tomato, standing all stout and cute:

The enticing lure of the peas in a pod , just waiting to fatten up:

The spectacular green of the onion bulbs that are shooting up:

And my favourite, a little carrot head pushing up into the world.

Cant wait to see them all grown up soon . Stay tuned for the next posts to witness their journey.

Its been a while and being the tortured cubicle dweller and coping up with my allergic rhinitis hardly gave me any time. But nevertheless, managed to grow a potful of Banana Peppers or Hungarian Yellow Wax peppers which were amazing to taste and so pretty to ogle at.

Take a look at how it all started. It took a wait of two and half months from the seed to the fruit.The journey began when the colour on the packet enticed me.

I did not get the pretty yellow but managed to get pretty close to the hue. Heres a pictorial journey of the lovely peppers. I particularly loved the one in the extreme right. The pepper sure looks like a banana.

And note the size of the peppers :

And heres one for the buffet table, Loved adding the colour to the table.

And when it was enough of gourmet, I decided to give it the Desi Tadka. So ripened a few peppers n the plant ,and made a yummylicious chutney which was a hit with the Idli’s.

Lessons learnt-

The peppers are very thirsty plants

They need atleast four hours of sunlight.

The plants are prone to attracting aphids and need particular care when they bear peppers.

They paint a pretty colourful picture when they are left to ripen in the pot.

And for the next time,if time permits, I am going to try out the stuffed pepper recipe mentioned here.

So long folks..have fun pottering around and holler if you need to know more.

Well its the rainy season. And come June and July, Amma would get us filled with the seasons best offerings, lush leafy vegetables. And I grew up loving this awesome green wonder and thanks to destiny, it turned out be Caveman’s favourite veggie too.

So the spinach growing experiment started with the seeds from the local nursery, tilled the soil , and off they went.. As always haphazard lining but the seeds germinated in 8 days. and looked so fresh and pretty even when they put their heads up. I placed it on my kitchen balcony sill where the pot got atleast four hours of sunlight.

And after a month, they were ready to harvest, lush green, and on my kitchen platform.

And then came the amazing Palak Dal ( Spinach Lentil Soup) for those who need to know and the Caveman’s favourite – Spinach and Cheese Sandwich.

I have three pots of spinach lined up now and we hope to gorge on as much as spinach as we can.

Beans Poriyal and Sambhar is comfort food anyday for a kindred South Indian soul like me. And when I decided to grow some of these beauties, they blessed me with abundance. Giving me the freshest produce and by far the best that I have eaten.

Choosing the variety – I chose the dwarf beans variety. I was told by the guys at the local nursery that they did not need support or trellises which was a blessing in disguise.

So off the seeds went into a potted medium of soil, cocopeat and vermicompost. and they germinated within ten days. Did not need special care, just needed to ensure that the weeds were removed periodically.

It was a sight to the eyes when the two leaved saplings turned lush and green. Pictures of them at fourteen days and then a month old babies.

Regular fertilisation, adding manure and lots of love led to harvest time soon. When the greenie beans played Peek-a boo with me.

And my produce of 1.5 kg from 10 pots . Had a regular inflow of them at the dining table for a month after which they had to be taken out.Lessons Learnt :

1. Beans can be sown in January, February and March for the Indian climates.

2. They prefer a lot of sunlight and flourish when they recieve about four hours of sunlight everyday.

3. Occasionally you might find white lines spread across their leaves, which is apparently a trait of the beans family.

4. Harvest the pods when they are still taut and fresh.Waiting for too long decreases their flavour and makes them stringy.

Happy Bean time folks and if you need any tips , please dont hesitate to contact the Pitter Potter gardener.